“Second star to the right, then straight on until morning.”

Monthly Archives: July 2009

It’s still hazy, hanging all down through the valley, but I can’t see any plumes right now, over at Goats Peak Mountain. That’s not to say "it’s OK to take your eye off the ball" though, eh…

I also took the missus to work and Rose Valley is a lot clearer. I think, most of the smoky haze is now being blown in from Fintry, which now stands at around 1300 hectares, but I’m trying to find out for certain.

The reports are saying around half of the evacuees have been allowed back, mostly the ones from the Glenrosa area. The Rose Valley evacuees are still waiting however. So, let’s not forget them.

Interesting piece from the Kelowna Daily Courier;

Fires man-madeCarelessness or something more sinister is believed to have caused the wildfires burning in West Kelowna, officials said Monday. “All three fires, we believe, are human caused,” Rob Moore of the B.C. Forestry Service said.Read Article @ http://tinyurl.com/la79bv

im battling up in rose valley and fintry as of this whole going on with the wildfires umm 40 % contained in glenrosa tryna tackle rose valley but steep terrain is keeping us at bay as we strategize our next move .. other fires ( small ones are being taken care of as I speak ). ill post more info after

I may have to eat my words. There was a calm over West Kelowna earlier this morning, as I said, things ticking over as normal, well, as normal as can be expected. People were heading off to work, if they’d been evacuated, in the clothes they were evacuated in and things looked promising. As the radio lady just said, “one thing that’s great about the people here is there relative calmness right now.” I agree. It felt like that this morning!

As the morning has gone on though, what started out as a fairly clear morning, blue sky and so on, has become a hazy smoky afternoon. From my viewpoint, I can’t see much, other than smoke right now, but I just got this from one reader, who lives, almost between the 2 fires…

The Glenrosa fire seems to be stronger on this side in the last 1/2 hour, it was predominately on the other side of the mountain last night and this morning. It is at the top and not close to any homes that I can see. I can see glowing orange and at times black smoke. They are working hard and fast with the helicopters and buckets, sometimes flying over our house.

I think they may have a direct view between the 2 hills, straight along the highway almost, so can see a lot more than me from their angle.

The helicopters are aggressively water bombing the Rose Valley fire right now, and evacuation orders have been extended for another 72 hours, I think for areas around there. It’s holding at 150 hectares they say, although due to the steeps sides of the valley, it’s still too dangerous to attack the fire fromthe ground

Also, on the radio, I just heard that the fire is moving up over towards Peachland, with no containment of the fire on it’s southern flank, about 400 hectares. Nothing to worry about just yet though. I’ll keep listening….

Things seem to be calming down, from what I can see, but I realise the fight goes on….

Fires are still burning but the Glenrosa fire seems to be almost half contained now, again, pockets of smoke are still rising from various parts. I can’t see Rose Valley from where I live, so until I go out in a moment, I’m not 100% certain of that one!

West Kelowna centre is getting on with it, as they say. I just called the library and they said that the roads out of West Kelowna are still shut down, but you can get about if you tell the RCMP that you’re going to the shops and offices and so on.

The air quality is not good, although I can now see down to Peachland again, pretty clearly, so no strenuous gardening or exercise outside for me….

So on that note, I’m off to the library and I’ll report anything major, any serious developments, or non serious, if I get anything. If you want up to the minute news and stuff, head over to the 1150am radio website, for live internet radio, www.am1150.ca

Fingers crossed for a good day! It’s apparently going to be a hot one, in the mid 30’s they say….

Roads are still blocked so I couldn’t get too close, plenty of smoke, not many flames to be seen, but this is what I got;

Rose Valley….

West Kelowna…

Time now is 9pm. I’m off to get a hour or so sleep. I want to be awake for when it gets dark. The interesting time is coming up, as the air crew have to stop at sundown, it’s too dangerous, so the ground grew have to fight the fires. But Rose Valley, from what I have heard is too far in to be fought from the road, there’s no access. Only the helicopters have been going in.

One question I do have, if anyone can answer me, is why have the bombers not been used? Surely there25 odd tons of water, every 15 mins or so would do some good? I hope to have the answer soon.

Stay safe, good luck to the firemen and support staff and I’ll be back shortly.

Not a huge difference to this afternoons shot, but it is clearing slightly, although through the afternoon it has been see sawing backwards and forwards. If you look carefully, of click on the photo to get over to Flickr and see a larger version, smoke is starting to billow up from behind Goats Peak Mountain, heading over to Peachland. And if you look really close, you can see the 3 helicopters hovering above the smoke.

I’m still trying to get some shots of the Fintry fire. If anyone know a good site I can link to or recommend, it would be much appreciated. From what we’re hearing, it’s really got bad this afternoon, doubling in size in a matter of hours and expected to get much worse.

A reader has asked me about sorting out a Google map of the area, which I’m going to have a crack at. Any advice, greatly appreciated!

I hope everyone is OK. We’re getting there, slowly, but it’s not over yet.

Haven’t been able to see much, so the pictures aren’t changing a whole lot at the moment, which is no bad thing… Rose Valley sounds like it is getting bigger, half of West Kelowna has been evacuated and smoke is in the air, we’ve been told to stay inside and not do anything to strenuous outside. You can smell the smoke, obviously, everywhere. Eyes are starting to sting, ever so slightly, throats are drying out a little, but we’re hanging in there.

Thanks for the comments and emails I am getting. It seems hardly anything to keep adding the odd picture and write a bit here and there, but from the feedback you’re sending me, you’re finding it useful just to see what’s going on as you are finding it hard to get in touch with families and friends here. So I’ll keep going!

I just jumped in the Jeep and headed round Mt. Boucherie to see what I could see of the Rose Valley situation…

All smoke, you’re seeing what I saw. A load of evacuations as well as warnings underway for the Rose Valley areas. Check out http://www.castanet.net or the radio station that I’m listening to, http://www.am1150.ca for lists.

The helicopters and air support have begun, dropping into the bay down at Gellatly for water.